Donation adds extra spice to restaurant's relaunch

Yakinori Japanese Kitchen, which is situated on New Street, near the well-known The River - or Floozie in the Jacuzzi - landmark, re-opened its doors on November 20 last year, offering customers the chance to get their hands on Yakinori's most popular Katsu curry meal for £1, with all proceeds to Birmingham Children's Hospital Charity.
Yakinori founder Ali Karakaya came up with the fundraiser to continue supporting the local hospital after the restaurant's two-year closure while dealing with devastating flood damage.
Ali said: "Kids are the future so it's always meant a lot to Yakinori to support Birmingham Children's Hospital Charity and we wanted to continue doing so as we reopened.
"We're famous for our katsu curry dishes so we thought we'd give Birmingham an offer they wouldn't want to miss - lunch for £1 and the chance to support a fantastic local charity."
On the day, hungry Yakinori fans turned out in their hundreds for their bargain lunch with Ali having to draft in crowd control to manage the queue along New Street, as well as extra staff to form a production line to serve the curries as efficiently as possible.
Ali said: “We were proud to serve over 600 curries on the day, raising over £600 for the hospital,...